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Grey Hawk
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Eventually we left coastal Belize and headed for the hills in western Belize. Along the way we found this Grey Hawk (Buteo nitidus) perched on the side of the highway. The only way I could a descent angle to take this shot was to stand in the middle of the highway; potentially dangerous even in sleepy Belize.
So I waited for a break in the traffic and walked towards the hawk. No time to check settings etc, just click, click, click and hope for the best. Then CB yelled “car coming” and I had to move off the road. Naturally the hawk then flew away, but at least I have a couple of half decent shots.
We saw this species several times in Belize and Costa Rica. It is distributed from south-western USA, through Central America and much of South America. They are 43cm high and like to perch on exposed positions near forest where they search for lizards, snakes and small mammals.
Here’s a good site to check distributions and basic facts on any bird in the world
(Avibase) which is jointly hosted by Birdlife International and Bird Studies Canada. Hope its of use to some of you. It also has links to a plethora of other information on birds.
While in Central America we used the following references:
2007 Garrigues, R and Dean, R. The Birds of Costa Rica, a field guide. A Zona Tropical Publication, Cornell University Press, New York.
2004 Jones, H.L. and Gardner, D. Birds of Belize, a field guide. University of Texas Press |
Adanac, Luis52, red45 has marked this note useful
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First of all - THANK YOU for the tip on Avibase! I am sure i will consult it often! Secondly, your capture of this hawk is outstanding!! I can see his feather detailing and gradients of grey quite clearly. What a beautiful bird - and that you caught him peering down at you was an added bonus! Great job, Chris!
Cheers,
Penny
- Adanac
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1048 W: 1 N: 4139]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(13914) - [2008-01-12 4:16]
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Hello Chris,
Excellent image of a species I haven't seen before. The colors and details turn out great. Thanks for sharing this great image and the tip on the Avibase site Chris.
Rick
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- joey
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1691 W: 242 N: 5580]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(19801) - [2008-01-12 6:14]
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Superb shot Chris!
Great composition.
Nice colours and patterns.
Excellent DOF.
Well done,
Joe
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- PeterZ
(8251)
- [2008-01-12 6:49]
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Hello Chris,
Good photo with a special composition. The head of the Hawk is a bit OOF, but the colours are great and certainly worth posting. Nice details, pose and eye-contact.
Regards,
Peter
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- Luis52
(10144)
- [2008-01-12 8:45]
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Hi Chris.
Great and fine photo of this Gray Hawk. I like the way he poses looking at You. Thanks for Your note, Ill be looking at Avibase.
Take good care.
Luis52.
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- red45
(26857)
- [2008-01-13 2:41]
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Hi Chris!
Very good, clear composition! I like diagonal wires or pipes, they make great silhouettes on blue sky BG. Hawk is detailed and well exposured, pose is very good, same as eye contact. Beautifull bird!
I'm still fighting with my new cam :-) Looks like we've got similiar lens, but in winter there isn't too much light to take good photos with f4-5,6 Sigma...
